Mike Rogers's New Target: Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk

BY Advocate.com Editors

June 01 2010 5:50 PM ET

Following last week's historic House vote to begin the process of repealing "don't ask, don't tell," gay activist Mike Rogers has a new target on Capitol Hill.

Citing multiple sources in a Tuesday Blog Active post, Rogers, long known for outing closeted politicians with antigay voting records, alleged that Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who voted against DADT repeal, is gay.

Rogers wrote that following the DADT House vote on Thursday, several sources called him regarding Kirk's sexuality — including two unidentified men who claimed to have had sexual relations with Kirk.

Rogers also wrote that Kirk had obliquely disclosed his sexual orientation to him at a 2004 party in Washington, D.C.

"I was introduced to [Kirk] by the person I came with and at the time did not realize he was a member of the House," Rogers wrote. "As my friend walked away, Kirk asked me if the man who introduced us was 'single or attached.' When I said that he had a partner Kirk replied disappointingly, 'Oh, well.' At the end of that interaction I walked away and didn't think much of it at the time."

Rogers's previous outings have included Florida representative Mark Foley and Virginia representative Ed Schrock, who dropped his reelection bid in 2004 after Rogers posted explicit voice-mail messages from the two-term congressman made to a gay hook-up phone service.

A spokesman for Kirk has not yet responded to requests for comment on Rogers's post.

Kirk, a fifth-term congressman who is running for U.S. Senate, received an 85% rating from the Human Rights Campaign, in part for his support of hate-crimes legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Kirk lost the group's endorsement for the race to fill the seat to be vacated by Roland Burris, however, after the DADT vote last week.